'Priest' Release Date Delayed Two Months

Screen Gems, Sony's more genre-happy division (with titles like Prom Night and When a Stranger Calls mixed in with Quarantine and Hostel, I hesitate to call it genre-friendly), has shuffled Scott Stewart's film Priest from its January 14th, 2011 release date to a new March 4th slot. As you'll recall, Priest, which is about a man of the cloth who goes against his teachings to hunt down the nasty vampires who kidnapped his niece, is the second team-up of Stewart with star Paul Bettany; the first being this year's not-quite-hit, not-quite-failure, Legion. Joining Bettany are Cam Gigandet (Pandorum), Karl Urban (Doom), Brad Dourif (Child's Play), Stephen Moyer (Tru Blood) and Christopher Plummer (Dracula 2000, On Golden Pond).

The release date shift would appear to be due to converting the film to 3D in post-production (boo!). Though at this point it's not likely that the actual conversion process is what's responsible for the delay, but rather the availability of 3D screens on the previous January 14th date. The Green Hornet and Cabin in the Woods are both set to release on that day; though considering the former's considerably higher profile, I also wouldn't be surprised in the least to see Cabin in the Woods similarly flee to another spot on the calendar.